A Thorough Examination
by stardustkr7
Summary: A rough night on patrol makes Red Hood relieved to have such a thorough, reliable partner like Batgirl.


"Where's your first aid kit?"

Jason grunted as he heaved himself onto a barstool in the tiny kitchen. "Up in that cupboard," he said, motioning with his good arm while trying to pull off his jacket.

Barbara located the box, covered in a fine layer dust like it hadn't been used in a while and set it on the counter with a couple bottles of water from the fridge. She had pulled down the cowl on her costume, setting it aside with her cape and gauntlets.

"Here, let me help you," she said, peeling the leather jacket off his bloodied shoulder, then the shirt underneath. "You should think about upgrading your armor," she added, dropping the bloody articles on the floor.

"My armor is fine," said Jason, wincing at every movement. "I just need to stop swooping in to save you from Killer Croc."

Barbara pursed her lips and ran a washcloth under the faucet. "I was doing fine," she said, dabbing up some of the blood from the gash on the back of his shoulder.

"A thank you would be great," he said, gritting his teeth as she worked.

"Thank you," she said, trying not to roll her eyes.

She poured one of the bottles of water over the wound, to help wash out some of the dirt and blood. He hissed and tensed up, goosebumps popping up all over his skin as the water rolled down his back and chest.

"That's cold, Barbie," Jason complained.

"Well I need to get this clean and I only found unopened cold ones."

"I'm just saying," he said, pausing to wince again as she scrubbed a little more vigorously, "next time you want to get me half naked and pour water down my chest, you could at least make it warm water."

Despite the clenched jaw, he managed to give her a proud smirk. She recognized the flirting as one of his defensive mechanisms, but it was still a little irritating when she was trying to patch his stupid ass up. Barbara responded by pouring some hydrogen peroxide on the cut next, making him swear loudly and grab the counter top.

"Motherfucker! Barbie! What the hell?"

She shrugged. "Don't want it to get infected. Now hold still and I'll put some anesthetic on it before I stitch it up."

With a grumpy frown, he leaned on his other elbow, looking away from her. Giving the painkiller a few minutes to work, she studied the claw marks. Only one of them looked really deep enough for stitches. The other two were barely even bleeding anymore so she used a couple of sticky little butterfly stitches to close them up.

"My stitches aren't as neat looking as Alfred's," she said, finally suturing up the large gash. "I should have just taken you to the cave."

"It's like a twenty minute drive out of the city. I didn't die and come back to life just to bleed out on the back of your motorcycle after being scratched by Killer Croc," said Jason, rolling his eyes. He was a lot calmer once the anesthetic started working.

"Okay," she said, now slathering on a thick layer of ointment, "this stuff really helps speed healing but you should still take it easy with this arm for a couple days."

"Too bad, that's my shooting arm."

"Jason …" she sighed, hiding a smile. She finished applying large, gauze bandage and stood back to admire her work. She felt a sudden sense of relief once assured by her own hand that her partner was okay.

"Thanks, Barbara," he said, watching her peel off the latex gloves and clean up the rest of the mess. "Although I think you missed something."

"What's that?"

"Maybe a kiss to make it all better?" he said, grinning at her again.

Normally, Barbara would roll her eyes at the blatant flirting and tell him to knock it off. And he would knock it off and that would be that. Lately, she hadn't even needed to tell him to stop hitting on her. Their partnership had begun on shaky ground but had grown to a strange sort of friendship and, dare she admit, even affection in the past several months.

Again, the relief at seeing him perched on a kitchen stool with a smirk instead of bleeding on the ground hit her full force. And, just this once, she indulged him. Leaning over, she pressed her lips to his deltoid, just to the right of the bandage on his back.

He went very quiet when she pulled away. When she dared to peek at his face, she swore she saw a faint blush across his cheeks.

"So," she said, wandering around the little studio apartment, "this is another one of your safe houses?" For someone who seemed to figuratively and literally shoot from the hip on the regular, Jason seemed to have a lot of secret stash places like this around the globe.

"It's a little more like an escape house, like for when Kory and Roy are being … Kory and Roy."

Barbara nodded, still observing the plain walls and sparse décor.

"I mean, they're great, really. Just sometimes…" Jason added, watching her looking around the room.

"Sometimes they unintentionally third wheel you?" she guessed, walking around a divider wall to the bedroom area.

"Sometimes… it's just nice to have space," Jason said, getting up and following her.

"Quite the weapon collection, Todd," she said, gazing up at the wall display of blades, long and short. Below the neatly organized display was a short set of drawers that reached about the height of her hips.

"Maybe when I'm allowed to use my arm again, we can try a couple out," he said, standing next to her.

"Jason…"

"Come on, Barbie," he said, grinning, "You'd look pretty badass with a sword."

"I think I'm pretty good with my hands," she said.

"Yeah, I bet you are," he said, with a suggestive little eyebrow waggle and a smirk.

"Ugh," she said, playfully punching him. Before quickly realizing she had hit his injured shoulder when he grimaced a little. "Omigod, I'm so sorry, I didn't even think…" Barbara reached up to pat the front of his shoulder, as though the action could soothe the sting.

"It's okay, you're fine," he said.

For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to move her hand, letting it rest on his warm skin. She was so aware of how tall and broad and shirtless he was, standing in front of her.

He stared right back down at her. When she tried to look away, she ended up looking at his mouth and considering what his lips felt like. And she tried to look away from his mouth but she was met with his broad chest and defined abs. Which was worse so she looked up again, ending up in this endless loop of staring at him.

Maybe one day she would admit that this attraction was building over months of working together, after watching the way his body moved. She had always been somewhat attracted to body movement and his was always elegant, yet full of power and purpose, solid but not clumsy. Completely present in the moment. She liked it, liked him.

Her hand moved down his chest until her fingertips traced along his abdominals, feeling his muscles flex under her touch.

"I … sorry …" she said in a hushed tone, drawing her hand away.

She was so expecting some crack about how first she had gotten him shirtless and now she was feeling him up.

Instead, he grabbed her hand and pulled it back to his chest, muttering, "It's okay…"

Jason stood very close in front of her now, but not making the move. She knew he was taking his cues from her, waiting for her to change her mind. Her mind was still muddled with the feel of his warm skin under her hand and the look of those slightly parted lips. Right then and there, she decided she definitely needed to know how those lips would feel on hers. She pressed forward on her toes and closed the gap.

It took him a full three seconds to respond, by which time she almost lost her nerve and started to pull away. Then he was kissing her back and his hands were on her waist, pulling her back in. His mouth moved perfectly against hers with sweet, tentative kisses, growing longer and more confident when she wrapped her arms around his neck. His tongue darted out to touch hers, drawing a moan from the back of her throat.

"Jay…" she whispered against his mouth, trying to draw a breath before diving back in. The hands on her hips steered her back against the dresser until she was perched on the edge, him standing between her legs.

"Mm… I love … the way you… say that…" he said between hot, open mouthed kisses. His hands slid up her back, holding her close. Each touch sent jolts of heat down her body.

Barbara pulled away suddenly, realizing that the hand on her back had found the zipper to her suit and tugged it a ways down.

"Babs …" His hands had stopped after being caught.

She considered the idea, taking her suit off and letting this go … somewhere. Her brain was still a little fuzzy from his kisses but she quickly came to the conclusion that the suit was better off than on. Because then she could feel the warmth of his chest pressed to hers, his hands and mouth on her skin.

Reaching around, she clasped a hand over his and pulled the zipper all the way down her lower back. She slid her arms out of the costume and pushed it down to her waist.

For a minute, she let him stare down at her in awe, glad she had worn the nicer sports bra tonight. Then she pulled him back into a kiss while his hands roamed around her skin, his touch warming her to the core.

"Ohh… Jason…" Barbara moaned, tilting her head back as he moved to her neck.

"I wanted this … so bad …" he murmured, sucking on the spot right above her collar bone and making her gasp.

She did too, wanted him so bad and damn the consequences tomorrow. Maybe if she felt like admitting it, the idea of sleeping with Jason had briefly crossed her mind before tonight. Like when she was feeling particularly frustrated and dared to think about how long it had been since she last had anyone. And her mind betrayed her with thoughts of the gorgeous (and single) man she worked with every night.

The gorgeous man who was still kissing at the little sensitive spots on her throat. Oh yes, she definitely wanted this to keep going.

His mouth felt so good, his body pressed to hers so solid and warm. One hand rested at the curve of her back, pulling her up and closer, the other held her thigh up and around his hip.

Her fingers ran through his hair, down his neck and shoulder where they met the medical tape from the bandage she had applied earlier. The skin was probably still tender judging by the way he hissed slightly into her neck when she brushed the area.

"Jay… your shoulder… we shouldn't," she said, trying to think through the haze of arousal.

"I don't care," said Jason, wrapping his good arm around her waist to pull her fully against his body.

"You might pull your stitches…" _Especially if you're imagining doing what I'm imagining doing right now…_

She felt the slight smirk in his kiss, right before he said, "Then I guess you should be on top."


End file.
